Inmates
by l0chn3ss
Summary: An AU in which everything is the same– Except Maka and BlackStar are roommates; Current Chapter: Eraser Marks
1. Prologue

They were both bold and young. Fiercely independent at tender ages of ten and eleven with burning desires to overturn the older generation. Savage to the system and plotting anarchy since their sandbox days.

One day, they finally had their chance.

"It's our time now."

Sweet escape was all that was on their minds. Maka's family had officially driven her insane and BlackStar no longer wanted to trouble Mira and Sid's household. They were old enough to leave the nest, to start anew with nothing more than their luggage of toys and clothes.

Kids left home all the time to live amongst contributing members of society, especially in Death City– even if the kids who normally lived alone had the dormitories and were generally already teenagers. But no matter! Maka and BlackStar were ready. In a month's time, they would meet their new weapon partners and as promised, they would be the best tag team pairing in the entire academy.

With Mira co-signing on the apartment lease and furniture donated to them by Spirit's friends who found out about the move through the grapevine, they settled into their apartment on the highest floor with a balcony looking over a small park. It was more spacious than the typical apartment complex, but they figured it was to keep each other from clashing as often as they do. A shared bathroom? Keep it clean BlackStar. Shared kitchen? I mean I guess that's normal. Shared room? Nah homie, stay out of mine and I'll stay out of yours.

Except that changed quickly when the pranks began.

Since they were young, Maka and BlackStar have been each other's greatest ally and worst foe. Their respective parents yelled at them all the time about taking their jokes outside to where no one had to clean up after them. Broken windows and ripped up clothes were a constant struggle when they were five years old, but once they hit six, their pranks became much more elaborate and plotted out.

In elementary school, their entire student body got along with Maka and BlackStar well, especially to keep on their good side. Luckily, when they tag teamed with each other, the horrors were only fleeting and harmless– as if they knew how to hold themselves back for the public. Once one of them turned their sights onto each other though, it was chaos. Nothing was a safe zone and there were no casualties too heavy for their war.

More on that to come.

For now, at ten years old and beyond, they moved onto bigger and grander things like battling prowess and becoming the best in their field. They since dropped their childhood promise to fight together on missions but have focused their attention onto more important things.

Like watching each other's back. Like helping each other grow stronger to meet each other's respective goals. Like still meeting up with their weapons every Thursday to spar. Like wrapping each other's wounds after missions. Like sharing stories of their day and reminiscing about the likeliness of their childhood. Like racing to school and racing home. Like coming home to their oldest friend. Like living with their best friend. Like that.

 _Like that._


	2. The Apartment Code

It's been a while since Maka and BlackStar first moved in with one another. As always, no matter how close you are to a person before, there will be some tension when you are forced to be around each other for extended amounts of time. Some of these troubles stems from inconsideration or even just neglect.

But once you both fall into co-existence, it was aite.

* * *

BlackStar made sure to be extra careful to not make too much noise as he climbed through their balcony door nor to stir the angry slumbering dragon as he entered their lair. He flinched as the heavy glass door rolled against metal and when he parted the curtains' clicking– what were they called? Well, it didn't matter so long as Maka didn't hear them.

It was another late school night with Kilik and Soul at their apartment two blocks away. Game night was a beautiful and random occurrence, their own version of "netflix and chill" while their other friends slaved away to homework and responsibilities. BlackStar, on the other hand, had no such things so long as he simply kept his half of the apartment clean. Meaning that for every spill he makes and leaves, Maka got to take two of his tanktops. For every square inch of hair gel or toothpaste left in the sink, the same amount of kool-aid packets would be poured into his underwear drawer. For every strand of hair that he shed onto the couch– actually that one went for the both of them. Regardless, there were no chores to be done because the system he was under left no mess to clean in the first place. Other than his room, their home was spotless.

He tore off his shoes and tip-toed past the blanket fort in the living room, beyond the shelf full of memoirs of a time before glue, and tripped over Maka's boots that she left haphazardly in the hallway in front of her door. They were the new ones that she couldn't wait to break in to given to her by Soul. No doubt, she was wearing them around the house that evening so BlackStar straightened them out, setting them off to the side neatly for her to find in the morning. She had her messes and her disorganized moments that she would never show to anyone else too, but they both figured that a little germless chaos was harmless, allowing BlackStar to have some form of leniency and peace of mind if he left something out that he shouldn't have. Yes, they had a system, but it wasn't so bad after living under it with Mira as practice.

One squeaky door later, BlackStar was back in his room, feeling the wall sensually for the light switch. He swore that it moved every day and that not even the dim light of the cackling moon peeking through the curtains could help him. He gave up. After stripping down to his bare essentials and swearing upon his sword that he would brush his teeth extra hard in the morning, he collapsed into bed and pulled his covers up to his neck. As a pre-caution though, he quickly turned his pillow over to check for Shrek's face in case it was sewn onto the backside and made sure to feel around his sheets with his toes for plastic bugs good measure.

Not today, Maka.

Not today indeed since no pranks were to be found that night. Still, BlackStar had a difficult time to let sleep run its course. He tucked his arms under his head, waiting for his eyes to become heavy and for his mind to be filled with dreams of fried chicken. Just before the moment came, he heard tapping come from the wall next to him, startling his poor heart badly but settling down quickly once routine kicked in.

He leaned into the white space, listening in as the taps switched from aimless noise to words. In the still of the night, he heard them as easily as her voice in a crowd.

"Have fun today? I left miso on the stove in case."

Smiling, he drew his left hand out to tap out a response. "Had pizza and chill. Why does Soul like anchovies?" A pause passed and he heard a yawn coming from the room adjacent to him. Before she could answer, Blackstar quickly jumped in again to add, "Was I too loud?"

"Heard you trip. My fault though. No one likes anchovies, he's lying to you."

"He peeled it off Kilik's slice."

"And ate it? Gross."

"You like pineapple. You're not better."

The walls loudly responded with her four fingers quickly, one hitting the surface after another three times. "H. H. H." Their own code for laughter– ha ha ha. Morse code had its limitations but that allowed Maka and BlackStar to be free to make up their own shorthand for phrases outside of the system.

From the other side, Maka typed in another set of letters. C. O. R. N.

"Corn is a good pizza topping. You liked it last month."

"And that's different than pineapple?"

"Yes." _H. H. H._ BlackStar considered to tell her more from his night, but his eyes were finally drooping and his neck was growing sore. He tapped out their specially made shorthand for "More in the morning, good night" and Maka responded with their shortened form of good night equally fast.

 _"More in the morning."_

He rolled back onto his back, settling into the covers as he thought about what he was going to tell her in the morning, letting them be his final thoughts for the night. More in the morning indeed– until quick tapping disrupted the silence and BlackStar jumped up from the sudden noise once again.

"Go brush your teeth."


	3. Eraser Marks

They were mad at each other. Hell yeah they were.

And what does it mean when they are mad? Petty, petty things usually, but this time, it happened to be Valentine's Day.

* * *

Look, Maka messed up. BlackStar may have had a hand in this as well, but all in all, Maka was the one who started it. She was in her room too often, working on a top secret project that she wouldn't let BlackStar see no matter how hard he tried—and boy did he try. With the upcoming holiday though, BlackStar was becoming more anxious about what she was hiding. So sue him. He snuck in.

Maka caught him red handed.

It took everything in BlackStar to not get mad first. He found everything he didn't want to, and was hurt over what he didn't find. Why would she start making Valentine's Day cards without him? It was their annual tradition. An annual tradition that apparently she didn't cherish enough since she hadn't even bothered to tell talk to him about it first.

He interrupted her mid-sentence, throwing her bundle into her unready hands and blurting out, "I didn't want to make cards with you this year anyways! Actually, I didn't want one from you either!"

The door smacked him on his way out.

* * *

"I still think you should say something to her, Star. What if she's feeling bad right now?"

"Well, she should have thought of that before making _me_ feel bad. Plus why should she be feeling bad? She's hanging out with Soul right now," Star grumbled, sipping his milkshake.

Tsubaki sighed deeply, putting a hand over her very stubborn partner's. "I know you feel upset right now, but the sooner you apologize and erm… _be the bigger man_ , the happier you will be, too."

But he didn't _want_ to be the bigger man right now. He just wanted to enjoy his outing with Tsubaki on this day. That feat was extremely difficult for him to concentrate when there were other issues happening at this moment. He and Maka usually spent the day with different people anyway, but this was the first one where they hadn't exchanged a word since it started.

"Maybe she did get you something? What if she's just hiding it for you to find it?"

Light bulb.

"Oh glorious me, you're a _genius_ , 'Baki! Of course she would pull through. It's probably in the most secret of all secret places. You planned today right? And you're friends with her. So that means—" he waggled his eyebrows "—you had something to do with it."

"Uh… I wouldn't go that far, but—"

"Let's go, let's go! We still have half the day! Oh—but what if she didn't? I should have found it by now, right?"

Tsubaki bit into her burger. "I'm not sure, Star. I guess you'll just have to find out."

He sulked for a little before polishing off the rest of his fries. But the idea had already settled in and he was tipping over the cliff's edge. Before leaving the diner, BlackStar checked all of the menus just in case there was anything lodged in between them. His partner put a hand on his back, steering him way from the rest of the ones that customers were already holding.

"Come on now, next stop is the park! But no jumping in the lake, ok?"

BlackStar agreed, reaching over to take her hand.

They spent the rest of daylight chatting about mundane things, like about himself and their personal records that they wanted to break this year on the training grounds. There was even a lucky chance that the ice cream cart had been passing through where they were sitting, and they took the chance to get the same rocket shaped popsicle that they both enjoyed. Tsubaki urged him to watch the sky with her for a bit as it grew darker, commenting on the beauty of the sunset. While she lay down on the grass, resting her head on his lap, BlackStar kept watching as it sank.

The day was ending, and that meant it was delivery time around Death City. But there still wasn't a leaf of paper fluttering around with his name on it. Damn it all, whatever.

Tsubaki and BlackStar jumped the rooftops that dusk, handing over their individually made cards to their friends and picking up their own along the way. Kilik's and his twins gave cards full of glitter and not enough glue. Tsugumi's squad already dropped them off at their respected homes. Kim flicked a pink business card at both Tsubaki and BlackStar, mouthing "call me" as she closed the window. Kid, Liz, and Patty spent their day together at the spa, and they said they already sent BlackStar's out with Maka and that she left Tsubaki's with them here. _Great_. _So time efficient, Maka. Braaaavvoooooooo._

None for BlackStar, though.

After dropping Tsubaki off at home, BlackStar stomped up the steps with his bounty in tow, using the front door for the first time since they were moving in. No card on the door. He shoved his hands in his pockets for his keys. No card in the pockets. No card on the sofa. No card on the table. No card on the refrigerator. No card in the bathroom.

No card at all. _Damn_.

It wasn't that he was disappointed in her, it was that he was disappointed in him. He didn't mean what he said, pigtails. He didn't mean it at all. Why had Maka have to choose that moment to listen to what he had to say. BlackStar dragged his feet to his room, throwing his bag of not-Maka's cards onto his desk. Yeah buddy, it was a good day, but it coulda been a lot better. He flings himself onto his bed, hearing the very distinct sound of crinkling paper under him.

Immediately, he got to his feet to sexually feel the wall for the switch. Tonight was not the night, light. _Tonight was not the night._ It took two hands to find it.

But there was no card in sight on his covers. Was he hearing things? Did he want one _that_ bad? This was a new type of deadly sin, one that apparently caused people to hallucinate even after all hope was lost. But come on… he _knew_ Maka.

He walked cautiously to his bed again. This time, he flipped all of his pillows over, shook his blanket out, and undid his sheet and redid them neatly. _Nada_. He was going crazy. There was no other way. And he lay down again, only to hear the freaking sound again.

Maka was messing with him- totally fucking with his feelings right now. It was probably her on the other side of the wall as she opened all of her cards. But… she had her lights out.

BlackStar pursed his lips. There was really only one other thing that was the solution to this problem. He turned around, reaching behind his back. Although he couldn't quite reach the middle of his back, he felt a sharp corner poke his finger. His excitement couldn't be contained. He tugged his shirt off and ripped the card that had been duct taped to him, the handmade card by none other than Maka Albarn herself. _Are you fucking kidding me? Was it on me this entire day?_ It was grody yellow, girly, flowery, lacy, and just the grossest looking thing that he'd ever touched in his life.

And he fucking loved it.

He did a little dance in his room to celebrate, waving the card in the air and doing a little hand jazz to himself. It's like he's six years old again, like when he first found out that the Grim Reaper was real on his birthday with his best friend who introduced him. Maka delivered. She always delivered.

" _Maka Albarn, you motherfucker!"_

Ah… But he had nothing for her.

Rapid fired tapping interrupts him. _Quiet down._

She was still mad at him. Of course she was. And here's what he's going to do. BlackStar quickly formed a plan in his head, dragging his box of scraps from his closet.

* * *

Maka had returned earlier that night after spending the whole day with Soul.

It wasn't a date; it was an enjoyable hang out that involved three meals a day together, flowers, chocolates, heart-headbands, and a candle lit gazebo with a cake involved during the sunset hour. Soul had never taken anyone out for the day before, and she so happened to be free on this day. He also happened to make an entire poster when he asked her, too. Yeah. They were just friends—partners of a different sort. One that involved blood, sweat, and pre-kishin.

She made her way back to her room, checking each room for any more _surprises_ before giving up, grabbing a vase for Soul's tulips on way. Of course she didn't find anything; BlackStar was as good with surprises as she was with philosophy classes. Maka only hoped that Tsubaki managed to plant the card on his back without him noticing. However, seeing as he still wasn't home and how her phone had been silent for the whole day, Tsubaki probably didn't find an opening. _It's fine. This is fine_ , Maka told herself.

It's just the first ever Valentine's Day spent without any acknowledgement from BlackStar.

She went to her closet, pulling the holiday box from its top shelf to add in her recent new treasures. There were a few trinkets in there from previous years like a macaroni necklace, a pop-up card, and the remnants of a heart carved out of wax that Maka thought was cheese when she was seven years old. Mistakes were made. And maybe some mistakes were made this year too, but what the heck was she supposed to do in a situation like that? She shook her head, choosing instead to focus on categorizing the additions.

There were two gift certificate from Liz to the spa place that she and her partners went to—both were a two person deal (one for each person and their partners), a business card from Kim and cookies from Jackie who frantically chased them down before they got too far, an envelope of just pure glitter as far as Maka could tell from Kilik and co., a crocheted bunny from Crona, and more and more. She filed them away by year, and then by person. As she looked back at the previous clumps, she realized just how large her circle of friends had become since she first celebrated Valentine's Day. The stack of cards alone this year was over an inch thick while there were only five or six from the past. Those ones came from Spirit, a few death childhood friends who didn't particularly like a day that didn't celebrate the dead, and BlackStar.

 _Screw you, BlackStar,_ she screamed internally, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. He hadn't missed a year yet no matter how crappy he was at memorizing dates, and now her collection was incomplete. Yes, that collection was totally incomplete. Which is why she was upset tonight, yes.

She flicked the light switch with a swift precise kick and jumped into bed, bittersweet over the memories of the day. BlackStar came into the apartment later on, making a huge racket as he settled down. Maka wasn't having it tonight, tapping out a fierce _quiet down_ before falling asleep to disappointing silence.

Maka woke up to a knock on her door the next day. She grumbled a _go away_ but made no effort to stop BlackStar from entering anyway. He was coming in to apologize after Tsubaki called him to give the card probably. She wasn't going to feel a single ounce of remorse probably. And he was probably going to either.

Instead, the first thing that greeted her when she finally sat up was a breakfast tray.

On it was a blue colored rose that sat in a small necked vase beside a bowl of strawberries and Cheerios filled to the brim. (The rose still had the discounted price tag on its leaves.) Next to it was smaller bowl of milk, and a perfectly balanced spoon perched on the rim. There was even freshly squeezed orange juice in a mug, paired with a silly straw that was tied with a bow-less ribbon. BlackStar couldn't cook for shit, but damn it, the boy tried. He tried so hard.

She reached for the card before anything else. It was a gaudy pink color that seemed like the construction paper that they used for Mira's gift several years back. There was nothing special to it, just a poem written inside.

 _"This rose isn't red_  
 _Your eyes are green_  
 _I'm blue and you're blonde_  
 _We're both still the same color_

 _PS. nothing rhymes with green_  
 _please don't be mad"_

The penmanship was atrocious. She could see how many times he wrote and rewrote the lines, erasing the misspellings due to his dyslexia, and eventually going over the words with pen. But the effort was there, it was between the lines and flowing from every letter of the poem. How early did he wake to put it all together? Maka was an early riser too, yet he came in before she was up… Did he sleep at all last night? He hadn't said a word since he came in.

Maka set down the card, taking a deep breath as she did. When she looked up, she saw BlackStar waiting patiently for her to finish and for her to speak first. He was afraid, playing with his fingers and clenching and unclenching his toes in her carpet. There was no sign of Maka's thoughts as she set aside the tray. Her face was devoid of emotion as she stared back at BlackStar.

His own thoughts where etched on his forehead. _Is she unimpressed? Is she still mad? What happened?_

"M-Maka? Happy Valentine's Day?"

And that does it. The tears escaped and her pokerface cracked.

She tried to blink away the blurriness, but the fog just wasn't rolling away. Maka rubbed her eyes, unable to hold onto her anger for a second longer. _Damn it all._

Their eyes met again, and in the most cracked voice and slightest of whispers, she said into his crushing arms, "Thank you, Star."

Happy Valentine's Day to the inmates. They are stuck with each other- for better or for worse.


	4. On The Offense

Different words were exchanged every day, and oftentimes they were matched with playful pinches or hard jabs to the stomach.

The others who watched them interact were worried, to say the least, but truth be told, Maka and Black Star really wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

"Chicken, Maks?"

Black Star stood in her path to the classroom, acting as if he were some big obstacle that no one could face. His feet were wide apart, arms crossed, and he wore a smirk on his face that could only be read as a challenging one. If she spent any more time on him than she'd already had, Maka would have to call the day a loss.

"Move, Star," she glared.

"So, you _are_ chicken?"

Maka was weak to these simple words, ones that grade school children were taught to ignore. And she would have forgotten them easily had it not been for the person making the remarks in the first place. She rolled up her sleeves.

"I'll wreck your shit _,_ " came her response.

In the middle of a busy hallway, in front of their next class, they clasped hands and butted foreheads, trading insults and swear words.

Inside of the room, Kim sighed. "They're at it again. Really? Right in front of my salad."

"You hate salads," Jackie said, barely glancing up while a crowd of freshly admitted NOT students crowded outside.

" _My point is,_ it's too early for this shit."

"Agreed," Soul said. He'd gotten the chance to slip in when Maka had wrestled Black Star away from the door. "I'm pretty sure that Maka called him something in the morning, though, while they were still at home."

"Anything could probably trigger _that_ fire cracker. I don't know why she didn't know otherwise."

"I think she enjoys it," Tsubaki called from a row down.

Kilik joined in. "The crowd enjoys it, too, apparently," he said, jabbing a thumb behind him. "Do you think class will start late again?"

"It better not." Jackie clenched her book tighter. "I studied for _too long_ to run out of time on _another_ test."

The group of friends continued to watch, minus one, until two teachers came to pull Black Star and Maka apart.

* * *

"Yeah, just come in. Leave your bag wherever," Black Star said, pushing his door open.

Kid took a brief look around before following his friend; Patty and Liz trailing behind. They didn't do home visits often, but Black Star had an opportunity that they couldn't refuse.

"I'll get my fame-moose corn and clam chowder re-heated. How'd y'all find out about that anyway?" he questioned.

"'Smelt it on ya hands," Patty said, tapping her nose, following him to the kitchen. "And everybody knows soups are ya specialty."

"Plus Kid forgot to go shopping for dinner."

"I was away for five days, Liz. What have you both been eating for the last week?"

"Out," was the answer.

Black Star ignored the conversation. "Soup is easy. You start it early, throw everything into a pot, and let it do it's thing- hmm, half is gone."

"Thieves? _Bandits?"_ Patty cracked her knuckles. "Those mutherfuckers."

"Chill, there's still plenty for all of us."

Liz asked, "Enough for Maka to join, though?"

Before Black Star could answer, the person in question stepped out of her room, fully dressed and adjusting her gloves.

"Hard pass for today," she said. "I told some kids I'd beat them until they were better. _Try_ to enjoy dinner, though. We have Pepto-Bismol in the bathroom cabinet."

"Guess you guys will be out there for the whole week, then," Black Star squinted, crossing his arms. "Good luck _helping_ , I guess. I hope they don't give up on you too early."

"There's a reason why they asked for _my_ help and not _yours."_ Maka crossed over to the counter to pick up a heavy thermal bag, hanging it on her arm.

"What's that?"

"Oh, just going to force feed them some chowder as punishment." She gave it a pat. "A torture device, but still legal in the state of Nevada."

"Ah, giving the kids a proper final meal before you send them to their grave, eh?"

"Bye, choke on dinner!"

"Choke on my d-"

" _Okay, who's setting the table?"_ Liz intervened.

* * *

"Oh look who came in. Mr. Late McLate Pants."

Black Star mocked her tone. "Hurr, I'm Maka, Miss Always Early. Why don't you tell everyone why I'm late, huh?"

Kilik tried, "Actually, there's still some time before-"

"Oh sure! I'll tell them," Maka sneered. "Someone was stuck doing a _mountain_ of dishes before they could leave. How are your hands? Pruney?"

"You knew it was my day to be on sink duty, so you made a huge ass breakfast for yourself and only left me with toasted _Wonder Bread._ You're a sick, cruel monster."

"At least I toasted it for you," she said sweetly. "The entire loaf, too."

"How do you think it makes me feel to wake up to the smell of a breakfast burrito, only to get pointed to fucking _Wonder Bread?"_

"I just thought it fit your standards."

Ox whispered, "But I love Wonder Bread…"

* * *

"Why do you _hate_ each other _so much?"_

They looked at their friends, and then at each other, suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Hate? Oh my lord, nah fam. No, no, no," they wheezed. "Who hates who? Us? Me? Nah, you got it _so wrong,_ my dudes."

Confusion settled into their friends' faces; awkward laughter joined in.

"Ah," Maka sighed, calming down. "Guys, come on. What on earth are you saying?"

Liz waved a tentative hand. "Well, you're always insulting each other, and smacking, and angry, and- I don't know, _acting like you do?"_

"Like that time you tripped Maka while she was carrying her lunch," Tsubaki chimed.

"Or when you both started throwing other people's shoes at each other," said Soul.

Kilik muttered, "Sometimes with the person still attached to said shoes."

"As if you all haven't been tossed around as weapons or meisters before," Black Star snorted.

"That's an entirely different thing," Liz said. "Come on, what the everloving _fuck_ is going on with you two?"

Black Star threw an arm over Maka's shoulder, who reciprocated the action, grinning.

"No, we don't hate each other. We're just offensive soulmates," she explained.

"Sarcastic squad goals," said her roommate.

"A deplorable duo."

"Bosom bitches."

"Significant shitheads."

"One true problems."

"I've got ninety-nine problems and all of them are you!"

Black Star pointed a finger gun, "Ayy!"

"Seriously the only thing I hate about him is that he slurps his ramen-"

"Ah, ha. And she does the same. Like a goddamn vacuum picking up screws-"

"As I was saying- he slurps like a toddler learning how to eat-"

"At least I know how to."

"Now _what the fuck_ is _that_ supposed to mean, you little shit?"

"You need me to spell it out for you? I _said,_ at least I know how to eat like _a basic human being_."

"Well, at least I _am_ a basic human being-"

"Yeah, _basic as fuck!"_

"Ok, now you want to fight, huh? Is that it? _Let's go, Star."_

"Prepare to get _wrecked,_ Maks."

The both of them clasped hands and butted foreheads, pushing each other with all of their might while their friends left for lunch. They were tired, all of them were _goddamn_ tired.

* * *

Written for MaStar Week 2018  
Day 1: Tomfoolery


End file.
